Hospitalization durations reduction and the life expectancy increase engender a growth of needs in care. Home care sectors do not escape this situation. The request increases from years to years. At home ... [more ▼]

Hospitalization durations reduction and the life expectancy increase engender a growth of needs in care. Home care sectors do not escape this situation. The request increases from years to years. At home, the control or the management of the disease repose many on the patient and/or her family. It requires that they can be trained in the daily management of the disease. Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE) pursues this objective and is major solution to the stakes of tomorrow. But what corresponds TPE when it takes place at home. Objective –Method: A qualitative study was performed with 20 Belgian French-speaking services of home care from June 2010 to July 2011. Home TPE representations of caregivers and managers were collected by semi-structured interviews (n = 60). They spoked about: home TPE objectives (FORWHAT?), professionals (BYWHO?), home TPE patients profiles (FORWHO?) and home TPE characteristics (HOW?). Results: The aimed objectives are to improve the patient autonomy and well-being or to avoid troubles. The disease management by the patient and knowledge transmission home TPE. For them, several patients’ profiles benefit from the home TPE. The diabetic patient is the mostly quoted profile. Eleven characteristics are given to describe home TPE. Discussion and conclusion: At home, patient education corresponds at an educational posture rather than a process of therapeutic patient education. The characteristics of TPE seem to be connected to the specific environment of care and to others external factors. To develop the TPE at home, it’s essential to understand its specificities. [less ▲]

A patient's therapeutic education is a permanent process which includes various organized activities that contribute towards the patient’s quality of life and help reduce long-term care costs. Whilst it ... [more ▼]

A patient's therapeutic education is a permanent process which includes various organized activities that contribute towards the patient’s quality of life and help reduce long-term care costs. Whilst it may be a solution to the increase in chronic diseases and care needs, it is nevertheless little valued financially in the Belgium home care. Home care would nevertheless appear to have developed quite significantly. It is however, difficult to grasp. In order to identify the determinants of patient education at home, sixty semi-structured interviews were carried out with managers, nurses and auxiliary nurses from twenty home care services in French-speaking areas of Belgium. Patient education at home is determined by multiple factors relating to the patient (request, involvement, capacities…), the caregiver (involvement, desire to spend time on the patient's education, professional education…), the relationship (trust, affinity, respect…), the service (organization of working time, resources…) and supranational authorities (amount and current method of funding). Some determinants are real levers through which supranational authorities and home care services can be operated. [less ▲]